Marking the seasons has become somewhat of a tradition in our household. So when my sister suggested a trip to Marldon Christmas Tree Farm to mark the start of the festive season, we couldn’t get in the car quick enough!
Marldon Christmas Tree Farm is located between Paignton and Torquay and is creating a reputation as being a Christmas destination. We started in the restaurant. Jammily managing to blag the best table in the house, right in front of the roaring fire. The restaurant is adorned in Christmas decorations and made to look like a cosy log cabin. With lots of tables and booths to sit in. While we were there, there was a professional group singing carols to get us in the festive spirit. The queue to get food and drinks was horrifically long. With the food really not worth the wait, but the cabin was the perfect place to warm up our cockles before we explored.
Displayed in the cabin is the UK’s 2021 champion Tree. A humble little Pine Christmas Tree, the prize for which was to supply the Christmas Tree outside 10 Downing Street. A ginormous Nordmann Fir! We knew we would be taking our tree home from the farm with such high accolades!
My sister happens to be affiliated with the farm through work, and introduced us to Sadie Lynes – the owner of the farm. Sadie very kindly offered to let us meet her beautiful reindeer. An incredible experience that had Ben, Ophelia and I right up close and personal with the beautiful animals. Sadie explained that she’s had them since they were calves and that they’re now extremely old and no longer have their teeth.
Following our incredible encounter, it was time to meet the huskies. Professional sledge dogs that take part in competitions across the UK. The dogs were all beautiful and took it in turns to ‘keep watch’ while the rest of the pack slept. When we’d done our duty and given each dog a cuddle it was starting to get dark.
We thought we ought to actually choose our tree! Last year, our tree was beautiful, but too wide, the stump too thick to fit in the stand and took up way too much of the sitting room. This year we knew we needed to learn from our mistakes and have a narrower tree with a thinner stump.
The very first tree we found was perfect. Six feet at the top branches and a Nordmann Fir with soft needles that hang on to the branches longer than a traditional Christmas tree.
Ben pulled it from the bay and carried it over to be wrapped up ready to take home. With the tree secured and wedged into my sisters car, we were ready to head home for tea and biscuits and start decorating our beautiful tree!
If you’re local to Devon, Marldon Christmas Tree Farm is open seven days a week until 23rd December. You can check on their Facebook page to see when the huskies will be at the farm!
